Download (PDF, 72KB)

Download (PDF, 76KB)

Download (PDF, 64KB)

Download (PDF, 58KB)

Look for these union-made-in-the-USA products and services while shopping. Buying union-made supports good jobs. America is at its best when we say and shop UNION YES!

Download (PDF, 2.79MB)

Download (PDF, 617KB)

Download (PDF, 2.51MB)

Online fundraiser established for family of Local 610 trainee – SMART Union (smart-union.org)

The SMART Transportation Division and Local 610 out of Baltimore are mourning the loss of a fallen brother who had his life and career ahead of him.

Derek Scott “D.S.” Little, 28, was days away from marking up for the first time as a certified conductor with CSX and was slated to begin his career as a SMART-TD member on July 1st. Engaged to be married, he was two weeks away from the due date for his first child.

Derek was at a point in his life when everything was coming together perfectly. Tragically, it was all taken away from him the evening of June 26^th while working at Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore.

Brother Little was involved in an accident while riding on equipment. He didn’t survive to see the birth of his son Logan Matthew Little, or to be married to his fiancée, Kaytee Burns. Well-liked in the crew room, he had a promising career ahead of him in Local 610. More importantly, as his obituary states, “Derek was a kindhearted, goofy, lovable young man who never missed a chance to make you laugh. He loved his family and friends and was looking forward to being a dad.” Beyond his love for his family, he also enjoyed learning about Civil War history and playing golf.

Railroaders know the financial significance of Derek having passed away four days before being marked up, and the financial significance to his fiancée and mother of his unborn son that comes with the fact that he passed away prior to them being married. His family will not receive the same level of support from the carrier and the insurance companies as they would have under different circumstances.

For that reason, SMART-TD is asking all who can to close ranks around this young railroad family in their worst moment and show what it means to be part of this union.

We ask that you follow this link to a GoFundMe online fundraiser established by Local 610’s Safety Committee representative to benefit Kaytee and Logan.

Read his obituary.

This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation took action to hold the freight rail industry accountable and improve safety. The tragedy in East Palestine is a reminder of the importance of the work that goes into transportation safety – and we are so inspired and grateful for the FRA and PHMSA personnel who were there on the ground within hours of the derailment.

As the Secretary put it: “We’re also holding ourselves to highest standards in terms of the work that we’re doing and the work we’re going to continue to do to both respond to this incident and to make sure that we make rail safer to everyone who is in a community that is close to rail lines and anybody who is involved in freight rail at all.”

Sharing below a roundup of the latest activities and opportunities to engage with DOT and the Biden Administration. Thanks as always for your interest – if you know others who would like to receive these updates, please direct them to sign up here. 

Secretary Buttigieg Travels to East Palestine to Assess Post-Derailment Safety Needs

Yesterday, Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to East Palestine, Ohio and met with local officials and community members affected by the Norfolk Southern hazardous train derailment. While in Ohio, the Secretary visited the site of the derailment, held a media availability and received an update on the ongoing investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent federal agency, which issued its Preliminary Report and accompanying press release on the incident on Thursday morning.  As part of the continuous federal response to the East Palestine incident, investigators from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) were on the ground in the hours after the Norfolk Southern derailment and are actively supporting the NTSB investigation.

The Secretary’s visit came after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is leading federal response efforts in East Palestine, announced on Tuesday that response efforts would formally transition from the emergency phase to a longer-term remediation phase. Also on Tuesday, Secretary Buttigieg issued a set of actions that DOT, the rail industry, and Congress can take immediately — without waiting for the NTSB’s report on East Palestine — to increase rail safety on the tracks that run through communities across the country. The Secretary has also directed FRA staff to speed up work on its final Train Crew Size Rule, which will establish safe minimum requirements for the size of train crews, depending on the type of operation. The Secretary also reminded Norfolk Southern’s CEO about the “urgent need for Norfolk Southern to demonstrate unequivocal support for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding areas.” The Secretary stressed that the railroad must fulfill its commitment to take care of residents affected by the derailment, now and in the future. 

Secretary Buttigieg Calls on Rail Industry to Act Immediately to Improve Accountability and Safety

Earlier this week, as local, state, and federal officials continued to investigate the cause of the February 3 freight rail derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and monitor public health conditions, Secretary Buttigieg on Tuesday called for a three-pronged push to improve safety and hold the freight rail industry accountable. That includes laying out immediate steps for Class 1 Railroads to take to improve rail safety in communities across America and to improve working conditions for rail employees. It comes on the heels of the Secretary’s February 19 letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, in which the Secretary called for an end to the rail industry’s “vigorous resistance” to increased safety measures, which has included litigation and lobbying Congress. Railroads should take several actions, including requiring the owners of tank cars to expedite the phase-in of safer DOT-117 Tank Cars and to offer paid sick leave for rail workers; Congress should increase the maximum fines that DOT can issue to rail companies for violating safety regulations from the current maximum fine of $225,455; and DOT will advance the Train Crew Size Rule and initiate a focused safety inspection program on routes over which trains with large volumes of hazardous material travel.

FRA and PHMSA Support Administration Activities in East Palestine

On Wednesday, officials from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)  traveled to East Palestine as part of DOT’s continuing support of the NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the February 3 Norfolk Southern derailment. FRA Administrator Amit Bose and PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown took part in a scheduled inspection of the 11 derailed tank cars involved in the incident and toured the site of the derailment with firefighters, rail car owners, support staff from Norfolk Southern, and the NTSB. Such inspections are a necessary step in the ongoing investigation to identify failure mode and mechanism, looking for conditions of the tank car that do not comply with the regulation or the design requirements, as well as photographing and documenting the tank cars.

Also on Wednesday, Administrator Bose and Deputy Administrator Brown gathered with representatives of a host of key railroad labor organizations for a listening session focused on actions to increase safety and prevent further incidents like the one in East Palestine. During the listening session, first responders and firefighters thanked DOT officials for the emergency training grants available through PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant Program. In recent years PHMSA’s hazardous materials grant programs have helped train over 3,000 first responders across Ohio, including International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)-member firefighters who responded to this hazardous derailment.

President to Nominate Ann Carlson to Be NHTSA Administrator

On February 13, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Ann Carlson to be the next Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since September 2022,  Ms. Carlson has served as the agency’s Acting Administrator and originally joined the Administration in 2021 as NHTSA’s Chief Counsel.

FHWA Posts Notice of Waiver of Buy America Requirements for EV Chargers

On Tuesday, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) posted a Federal Register Notice that it is establishing a temporary public interest waiver of Buy America requirements for steel, iron, manufactured products, and construction materials in electric vehicle (EV) chargers. This short-term, temporary waiver enables EV charger acquisition and installation to proceed immediately while also ensuring the application of Buy America requirements to EV chargers by the phasing out of the waiver over time. On its effective date — March 23, 2023 – the waiver will apply to all EV chargers manufactured by July 1, 2024, whose final assembly occurs in the United States, and whose installation has begun by October 1, 2024.

Beginning with EV chargers manufactured on July 1, 2024, FHWA will phase out coverage under this waiver for those previously covered EV chargers where the cost of components manufactured in the United States does not exceed 55 percent of the cost of all components. This second phase will therefore apply to all EV chargers that are manufactured on or after July 1, 2024, whose final assembly occurs in the United States, and for which the cost of components manufactured in the United States is at least 55 percent of the cost of all components. For all phases, EV charger housing components that are predominantly steel and iron are excluded from the waiver and must meet current FHWA Buy America requirements. As of the effective date of this waiver, FHWA is also removing EV chargers from its existing general applicability waiver for manufactured products. Comments may be submitted to FHWA’s website via the link to this waiver: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/contracts/waivers.cfm by February 27, 2023.

FAA Completes Rule to Increase Safety at Airports

On February 16 , the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the completion of a new rule that will help airports detect and mitigate safety problems before they result in accidents or incidents. The final rule requires certain airports to develop and implement a Safety Management System (SMS).  The use of SMS programs by commercial airlines and many manufacturers helped foster the safest era in commercial aviation history. Fundamental to the program is identifying risks and then taking steps to correct potential safety issues before they result in accidents or incidents. The final rule applies to more than 200 of America’s busiest commercial airports. The timeline to fully implement SMS ranges from four to five-and-a-half years depending on the airports’ classification and operations. The rule takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. 

DOT Funds Innovative Research and Vital Training for Next Generation of Transportation Leaders

On Tuesday Secretary Buttigieg announced up to $435 million in grant awards for 34 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) that will help the next generation of transportation professionals make our roads, bridges, rail, shipping, and airspace safer, more innovative, and more efficient. UTCs advance transportation expertise and technology in the varied disciplines that comprise the field of transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities. The BIL included $90 million in funding per year for the competitively selected UTC Program grants.  Reflecting the popularity of the program, the Department received a total of 230 grant applications — the largest number submitted in any single year in the program’s 35-year history. Prairie View A&M University made history as the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to become a national UTC grantee. An additional four HBCUs are consortia members of UTCs selected for an award, and another five consortia members are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)/Minority Serving Institutions.  Overall, a record number of HBCUs, MSIs, and Tribal Colleges and Universities are participating this year. This interactive map depicts all the UTCs.

—

The Time Is NOW to Stand for the Rule of Two – SMART Union (smart-union.org)

The rule of two will affect Passenger RR operations, we are encouraging all members and their family’s to comment a on the FRA proposed rule requiring.

Please click and share the above link!

On July 28, 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to announce its intent to make a formal federal regulation mandating the minimum crew size on most trains in America to be no less than a crew of two in the cab of a locomotive.

As part of the rulemaking process, FRA must open a comment period to ensure that its actions are in-line with public preference, concern, and safety. The comment period has been extended for 60 days and will expire on Dec. 2, 2022. Click here to watch a brief how-to video for submitting comments.

It is vital to the safety of our industry that your stories be told, and your fears be aired. Therefore, we are asking all of you to please take the time to comment, and to share this action with your friends, family and loved ones – encouraging them to do the same.

Download (PDF, 1.01MB)

Each letter needs to be somewhat different.

Sample Comment 1:

My name is xxxxxxx, and I’m writing to comment on FRA’s Proposed Rule on Train Crew Size Safety Requirements. This issue is important to me because of my concern about the community where I live.

Trains that run through the country carry everything from mineral freight to spent nuclear rods. While working safely, these everyday commodities are transported with relative ease and no issues. However, with a strained workforce on call 24/7, it has made a complex job that usually could be done safely into a nearly impossible ticking time bomb absent the current two-person crew standard.

The conductor has a second set of eyes and in multiple areas takes a burden off the engineer, who is in charge of operating the locomotive. Usually, the conductor is the immediate responder who resolves the situation when the train experiences an emergency. A simple accident may become a fatality if the person on the ground has no one to call and cannot get through to the dispatcher.

Keeping the team of an engineer and a conductor aboard trains provides safety reinforcement, rapid response and will keep our trains running safely.

Sample Comment 2:

My name is xxxxxxx, and I’m writing to comment on FRA’s Proposed Rule on Train Crew Size Safety Requirements. This issue is important to me because it affects the health and safety of my family, my community and people all over our country.

Freight trains are crucial to our country’s supply chain, which means they transport everything from coal and grain to chemicals, hazardous or flammable materials and spent nuclear rods. These trains carry the goods that keep our country running. They also carry materials that, if not transported safely, have the potential to put our communities in danger.

Given the importance of the freight that trains carry and the potential danger for cities and towns these trains travel through when an accident occurs, two-person crews just make sense. Two pairs of eyes are better than one, in the cab of a freight train as much as in an airplane and having a conductor on-board can be a life-saver in case of fatigue, injury or accident. Keeping the team of an engineer and a conductor aboard trains provides rapid response and will keep our trains running safely. I strongly support this proposed regulation.

F. Current Operations
Since FRA already has regulations
requiring certain minimum standards
for locomotive engineers and
conductors,147 FRA has chosen not to
define the duties of the two required
crewmembers in this proposed rule.
Nearly every movement of a locomotive,
whether the locomotive is coupled to
other rolling equipment or not, requires
that the operation be performed by a
certified locomotive engineer.148 For
most current railroad operations, this is
accomplished with a two-person train
crew consisting of a locomotive
engineer and a conductor. Train crews
consisting of two people, one a
locomotive engineer and the other a
conductor, are universally the norm
because that crewmember configuration
provides the railroad with the necessary
flexibility to assign the crew where
operations have more complexity than a
one-person crew can be expected to
perform alone. That is, a train crew with
both a locomotive engineer and
conductor can be expected to work
independently, without the need for the
railroad to have separate plans regarding
how the train will accomplish switching
cars, protecting highway-rail grade
crossings, and other safety-related tasks

typically requiring more than just one-
person. It is also more efficient with a

conductor who can fill out any required
paperwork and receive mandatory
directives transmitted by radio while
the locomotive engineer keeps the train
moving.
Each current operation of a
locomotive or train that requires a
locomotive engineer is also required to
have a conductor, but FRA recognizes
that there are circumstances where a
person is ‘‘serving as both the conductor
and the engineer.’’ 149 With a one-person
train crew, the single crewmember must
be dual-certified as a locomotive
engineer and a conductor.150 In this
way, FRA currently requires that each
locomotive or train must have a crew
that can perform all the duties described
by the qualifications requirements in
FRA’s locomotive engineer and
conductor certification regulations.
FRA currently permits a train crew
consisting of a certified locomotive
engineer, who is not dual-certified as a
conductor, and a second person who is
a certified conductor attached to the
train crew, but not traveling on the
train.151 As proposed, this rule would
limit this practice to the excepted small
railroad operations under proposed
§ 218.129(c)(1), as the NPRM would
generally require crewmembers to be on
their moving train and only would
allow disembarking temporarily from
the train to perform duties assigned.152
Thus, a second person, even if that
person is a certified conductor, would
not be a train crewmember under this
proposed rule if the person is
intermittently assisting the train’s
movements and traveling in a motor
vehicle along a highway near the train.
If this proposed rule is finalized, FRA is
considering whether to amend the
references in the locomotive engineer
and conductor certification rules that
permit the current operation to explain
how these provisions are limited. FRA
would appreciate comments on this
issue.
Additionally, a railroad operation
with a train crew that consists of either:
(1) a locomotive engineer and
conductor; or (2) one crewmember that
is dual-certified may have other
operating employees identified as train
crewmembers. FRA currently defines

‘‘train crew’’ in § 218.5 as one or more
railroad employees who are: assigned to
a controlling locomotive; called to
perform service subject to the Federal
hours of service requirements; involved
with the movement of the equipment
they are called to operate; reporting and
working together as a unit that remains
in close contact, if more than one
employee; and subject to the railroad
operating rules and program of
operational tests and inspections
required in 49 CFR 217.9 and 217.11.
Thus, as FRA has an existing definition
of the requirements for a train crew,
FRA did not propose any new or
additional requirements for the train
crew in this proposed rule. FRA would
appreciate comments on this issue. An
alternative option is that FRA require a
second crewmember be a conductor,

even if the other crewmember is dual-
certified, in an effort to ensure a level

of teamwork that may not be attainable
with any other crewmember. This issue
is further explained below for freight
and passenger train operations.